Cleaning Guinea pigs ears

[Noellechardon]

So I took three of my guinea pigs to the vet the other day he said they were all healthy but my female guinea pig may need surgery for a cyst and then he said that my male pig Matty had very oily skin which was most likely because of his genes he also mentioned his ears were dirty and he may have a yeast infection he said he would clean his ears but when I got home he didn’t when I called back he was implying that I have to clean them I don’t live near any vets that are specialized in guinea pigs and I’m scared to clean them myself the doctor said to use a q tip or a cotton ball but not to go all the way in the ear I don’t know if that’s a good idea?

 

[Siikibam]

Was he prescribed anything for the infection? I’ll tag @Piggies&buns @VickiA @Wiebke @PigglePuggle but I would be very careful.

 

[VickiA]

Sorry I’ve never had to clean any of my guinea pigs’ ears.

 

[Free Ranger]

My long haired girl gets waxy ears (no infection - she's been checked over) and they gave me something called CleanAural earcleaner (for dogs) and said to put a little on a cotton wool pad (cotton rounds) and just wipe under the ear flap. I wasn't told to use q-tips or anything. Her ears are clear but the wax accumulates in the long hairs at the edge.

Now I tried it once but actually she didn't like it... I don't know if it feels cold as it goes on but it smells a bit weird too, and as they lick each others ears I was worried. So I just use a bowl of warm water and a cotton pad, squeeze out the excess water and press against the underside of her ear flap to soften things up. Then I gently wipe away what I can and she has to tolerate me picking the crusty bits off the edges. She's pretty good but every now and again will suddenly shake her head which is why I wouldn't use the q-tip. They groom each other's ears when they are bonded but they are also an easy target in a fight and bullied pigs can have torn ears, so I try to be aware that it might be a sensitive thing for a piggy to have her ears touched.

I'm nosy, I admit it, but I'd be interested to see what these ears look like inside. Did he think he had yeast in his ears? If you can get a pic and post it will help the experts advise you! You can use the 'attach files' button at the bottom.
I've never seen a piggy with 'oily skin' either - what did he mean by that? Teenagers yes - piggies not so far!

 

[PigglePuggle]

I dont think ear cleaning should be done routinely, and if it is needed I think I would want a vet nurse to show me what and how to clean! Poking about in ears may cause damage or introduce infection, ears have their own self-cleaning mechanisms and all those hairs in the ear that play an important role could be easily damaged by any attempted cleaning...

 

[anyar.dris]

I had a piggy in the past who I had to clean his ears ocassionally, as per the advise of our vet. He suffered with skin condition before we adopted him from RSPCA and had dry skin the whole time. Our vet told us to just use our bare hands to remove the gunk around the ears (he showed us how to do it). Obviously I never touched the inner canals of the ears. If I can get the gunk out with just using my fingernails I try, but if not I leave it and hope that it gets out on the next needed cleaning or my piggy removes it himself.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Posh gets quite dirty ears, I think it must be long haired piggies that are more prone, as I have never had waxy ears with any other piggies

 

[Noellechardon]

He never gave me anything prescribed for his ears and I’ll send a picture when I get off work later but when I looked it was around the edges and like a big clump in his ear hairs towards the front but when I put the q tip in (not all the way in the ear canal I didn’t wanna mess his hearing up) he just kept twitching so I stopped because he was uncomfortable